Sunday February 11th 2024

Dear reader, do you work for your living? Or have you done so, so at one or other stage of your life? 

I bet the answer to that question is yes! And do you remember those "awkward" moments when you had to go over and make a cup of tea in the office "kitchen area", but didn't want to speak to a particular person on the most direct "kitchen route"? 

a typical office kitchen or tea-making area

It happened to a local guy the other day in the lovely village of North Piddle. The story was covered extensively in both the local and national press, and subsequently "went viral" on social media worldwide. However, just to remind you, this was how the major local Onion News outlets here in Worcestershire originally covered the incident, after the news first broke.

Sound familiar? And the worst thing about stories like these, which I sense are regretttably becoming more and more common these days, is the sheer time consumed in avoiding those despised colleagues.

Before I retired in 2006, I worked for a large government department, and one of my greatest regrets on retirement. was not retiring two years earlier, in 2004 - if I'd just taken that simple step, I would have avoided having to work my last 20 months in a horrible "open plan" environment, where it was impossible to concentrate for 5 minutes even, due to miscellaneous noises - both machine-generated and human. 

inside my former workplace, a horrible open-plan environment

where it was impossible to concentrate on anything 

for more than 5 minutes at a time - what a madness it all was !!!!

The one bright spot in this open-plan working environment, for me, was that there were multiple ways of getting to the tea-making area or to the men's loos, while never going within a minimum of 10 feet at any one time from despised colleagues, which was a definite plus.

In fact I'm ashamed to confess that I once used all three of the Department's most powerful Cray super-computers to calculate just how many routes there were from my desk to the men's loos. And not surprisingly perhaps, there turned out to be - like - a billion routes at least, probably more!

a typical Cray super-computer, of the kind I used

to calculate possible routes from my desk to the men's loos

I was strictly going against office rules here, using the office Crays for what was admittedly a piece of private research. However, at my tribunal I argued that I was nevertheless saving the Queen time, by minimising the risk of getting caught up in despised conversations. I was fully acquitted and left the court without a stain on my character - read the official transcripts if you like. Just apply under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, and "Bob's your uncle", those transcripts will land on your desk in no time at all !

And while we're on the subject of wasted time in Worcestershire, don't forget also. the extra time consumed around these parts, by the process of constantly having to avoid totally unnecessary flooding on the part of the River Severn. 

This morning, after we say goodbye to our daughter Sarah and her twins, who've been our house guests since Friday, I drive Lois to her church's two Sunday Morning Meetings at the Ashworth Village Hall near Tewkesbury. However, our normal route has once more been blocked by the Severn not keeping to its proper banks. 

I wouldn't mind, but the suggested "detour" is telling us we've got to brave the little town of Upton-upon-Severn's notorious "busy area" - yikes !!!!

a "schematic" showing how our usual route to Tewkesbury

(map, top left) has been stymied by a road closure near the

River Severn, forcing us to do a crazy detour, and to brave

Upton-upon-Severn's terrifying "busy area" (see picture below)

Upton-upon-Severn's notorious "busy area"

seen here during a recent "rush hour"

Anyway, to cut a long story short [Thanks, Colin, I do appreciate that! - Ed] I eventually get Lois to the Village Hall, and we settle down to hear, first, the Bible Hour and, after the lunch break, the Breaking of Bread Service. 

The preacher today is local guy Richard, and his topic for the Bible Hour is "Daniel and the Lion's Den", illustrated by a graphic slide on the screen behind Richard, a slide giving an artist's impression of the scene in the "den" - the only escape route being a hole in the roof, guarded by a bunch of Persians. 

This is a part of the story that's particularly enjoyed by the church's roughly dozen-strong contingent of Iranian Christian refugees, many of whom are still waiting while the Home Office considers their request for permanent residency in the UK.

this week's preacher, local guy Richard, extracts messages 

for the congregation from the experience of a Daniel 

thrown into a den of lions in the Persia of the 6th century BC.

Richard is pictured here speaking in front of a graphic slide 

depicting Daniel's experiences in the den.

Richard's great slide of Daniel in the Lion's Den

with Persian guards looking down through the hole in the roof:

digitally enhanced by my graphics team, i.e. me, below a

simultaneous translation into Farsi of Richard's commentary

I have read that most biblical scholars' view of the book of Daniel is that, although the events described are set in the 6th century BC, the book itself was written considerably later, around 167 BC, and was maybe written by 2 separate authors, one writing in Hebrew and the other in Aramaic. 

This theory is based partly on stylistic evidence. but it's also said by many experts that the book contains major historical errors in detailing 6th century events, and that the prophecies made in the book suggest a later date: these prophecies are fulfilled pretty much word-for-word up until about 167 BC, but then become vague: and it's noted that these prophecies don't reference, for example, the Maccabean Revolt (167-160 BC), the big revolt in Judaea against the Seleucid Empire, which happened immediately after that date.

Lois's church however, holds to the view that the book, as stated, was indeed written back in the 6th century BC, at the time of the events it describes, and that the prophecies in the book are therefore genuine ones. So the jury's still out on that one.

the scene during the "lunch break" between the 2 meetings: 

Lois (ringed) with Scottish "tam o' shanter" perched jauntily 

on her head, chats by the Village Hall's coffee-making area 

with one of the church's dozen or so Iranian Christian refugees

Note the two "packed lunches" on the table in the picture above. Just for completeness, I'm going to now exclusively reveal that the one on the right is mine, and the unopened one is Lois's. You can see from the picture above that I've already "made a start" on mine !

 I eat my lunch, still shivering in scarf and overcoat,

watched over by the portrait of our late Queen Elizabeth

Yes, the Village Hall still "sports" a picture of our late Queen on the wall above the Hall's elaborately fake fire-place. Later I speculate with Lois on how long it will be before portraits of Charles become a common thing around our local towns - they certainly aren't that frequently seen as yet, but I suppose that somewhere "the wheels must be in motion".

I wonder......!!!!!

So watch this space !!!! [I don't think I'll hold my breath! - Ed]

19:00 Lois and I are always pretty exhausted after a weekend visit by our daughter Sarah and the twins. We enjoy the visits so much while they're happening, but we tend to collapse in a heap after they go home to Alcester, while still looking forward to their next visit in a few days' time. 

That's just old age for you, isn't it, let's be frank.

However, tonight, it's very pleasant to settle down on the couch and watch this week's edition of Antiques Roadshow, the series where members of the public bring along treasures and heirlooms from their attics and display cabinets, to have them discussed and maybe valued, by experts in the field.

This woman's great-grandfather was a Scottish sea-captain steaming home from New York back to Glasgow with passengers aboard, when he came across the American sailing ship Jamestown, which had lost its rudder at sea and had been drifting for a number of weeks - yikes! No radio you see, in those crazy, far-off times.

Campbell and his men rescued them all: the captain of the Jamestown and his wife, plus 27 crew-members, and he carried them to safety in Glasgow. The trophy was later presented to Campbell by President Garfield, and would now be worth between £3000 and £5000 - not that the family is going to part with it, obviously.

Here's another item - Lois and I are big fans of the printed word, so there's nothing more thrilling than to see some of the early prints made by the first ever printmakers in Europe, Gutenberg and Koberger in Germany, from way back in the 15th century.

The guy who's brought along these 15th century "doozies" has always had a professional interest in printing and typefaces, as he explains.

And what a milestone that was in human history - the invention of printing, as the Antiques Roadshow printing expert Matthew Haley explains.

However - talking about "the wife doing something for me as a special treat" - later, when Lois and I are in bed, I find that Lois is sharply critical of the printer guy's habit of talking about his wife as "the wife", as though she were his servant or a piece of his furniture, and Lois makes me promise never to refer to her as that myself, which I gladly agree to. 

Well she's got me in a half-nelson so I haven't much choice here really, have I haha!

Zzzzzzzzzz!!!!